


The Return of the Favor

by DinerGuy, OllieCollie



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Head-Butting, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Katsumoto is a long-suffering friend and deserves a medal, Magnum being an epic idiot, Snark, Whump, bananaphobia, except there's not much comfort unless you count banter and harassment, hijinks and shenanigans, when favors for friends don't always work out as planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 22:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21084140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinerGuy/pseuds/DinerGuy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OllieCollie/pseuds/OllieCollie
Summary: Magnum did realize that, nine times out of ten, most of the favors he asked his friends to do involved guns and dangerous life-or-death situations. But at least he never made them wear stupid shirts.





	The Return of the Favor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [truthtakestime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/truthtakestime/gifts).

> So, if there was such a thing as birthdays, we'd say we wrote this for a very good friend in honor of hers. But, we totally don't do birthdays, and we definitely didn't write this for anyone as any sort of a gift.
> 
> (Standard disclaimers apply.)

_ "Hey, Thomas, buddy, what are you doing right now?" _

Magnum frowned as T.C.'s voice came over the line. It was much too early in the morning for someone to sound as cheerful as his friend did at the moment. There was also an underlying tone to T.C.'s voice that made Magnum suspect this was not a friendly call to chat. "Uh, well, I _ was _sleeping right up until a few seconds ago," he groused. "Why?"

_ "Okay, so here's the thing," _ T.C. started.

_ Oh no. _Thomas had a feeling he would not be going back to bed. This was almost worse than that time Kumu had woken him up stealing his laundry. He sighed and waited for his friend to continue.

_ "You know how I'm always doing favors for you?" _ T.C. asked. _ "Flying you all over Hawaii, doing recon, interrupting my _ profitable _ business to bail you out of trouble constantly?" _

Well, he wouldn't say _ constantly… _"Uh, maybe." He really was too tired to deal with this right now.

_ "Well I think it's time you returned at least one of those favors. I need your help." _

Magnum moaned internally. Couldn't T.C. have chosen a time _ besides _six in the morning on a Saturday when reasonable people were still asleep to ask for a favor?

_ "And yes, I know what time it is, but I'm in a bind, man. Shammy's got a stomach bug, and my tour last night went late so I didn't have a chance to clean the chopper or anything. And I have a _ big _ tour coming this morning, some of Robin's famous friends. So everything has to be perfect." _

"T.C., you do realize I don't know the first thing about helicopters? That's your forte, not mine."

_ "Don't worry; I'll show you everything you need to know when you get here. Thanks, man, really appreciate it. See you soon." _

Magnum glared at the phone as the call disconnected. This was not how he'd planned to spend his Saturday. But he _ was _wide awake now and he didn't exactly have any prior commitments to get him out of the favor. So he sighed, rolled out of bed, and hurried to get ready and head to Island Hoppers.

* * *

"This is not my shade of yellow," Magnum whined.

His friend laughed, which was very unfair to Magnum considering the whole situation he was facing at the moment. "Nah, man, you look fine."

But Magnum was not to be dissuaded. "T.C., I look like a banana!" he insisted, glaring down at the garish Island Hoppers button-down his friend had insisted he wear for the morning. Something about "brand consistency" or the like. Magnum would much prefer to wear the classic red Hawaiian shirt he'd arrived in, rather than this helicopter-print monstrosity.

"Come on; we don't have time for this," T.C. said, shaking his head. "I need you to go clean the helicopter for me while I get some stuff in order here in the office. The vacuum's inside the back door, and there's some cleaning supplies under the sink you can use."

Magnum made a face. "Oh, so _ you _ get to sit inside in the air conditioning while _ I'm _ the one having to slave out in the sun doing manual labor?"

T.C. leveled him with a raised eyebrow glare that Thomas immediately interpreted to mean, _ 'Really, Magnum?' _

"Okay, okay, fine." Magnum lifted his hands and shook his head. "I'm going." If he let the door close a little too hard behind him on his way out, it was completely unintentional.

A few minutes later, Magnum was leaning inside the helicopter, working at getting a particularly stubborn spot of mud out of the floor, and grumbling to no one in particular. "Sure, make your friends do all the dirty work. Calling at six am on someone's day off for a favor. Who does that?"

He could practically see Higgy rolling her eyes, saying, _ "Seriously, Magnum?" _ and reminding him of all the favors he'd asked of his friends during cases, but he pushed the thought away. This was _ completely _different.

He heard footsteps on the concrete somewhere behind him but didn't bother turning around. It was probably just T.C. needing something from him—or coming to check up on his work. So he just continued scrubbing at the floor of the helicopter, although he threw in a few louder complaints just in case his friend was listening.

"And making me wear this shirt too," he complained further, taking care to speak extra loudly. "Where'd this color even come from? I mean, really, it's like—"

And that was when Magnum heard a very familiar sound from behind him, one he didn't particularly _ want _ to hear either. The sound of a gun clicking as the hammer was pulled back.

He turned—slowly—and came face to face with two men, one of whom had a large, black pistol pointed directly at his chest. Well, this was definitely not good. _ This _ would _ happen. _"Can I help you?" He kept himself cool and collected, a trick he'd learned quite well over the years. It never helped to panic in a situation like this—and he'd been involved in plenty.

"Yeah," the shorter of the two responded gruffly. "You can climb in that seat and fly us out of here."

"Uh… actually, I can't." He wasn't _ trying _ to be difficult, but he couldn't exactly bluff his way through flying a helicopter. These guys were going to find out in about five seconds when he couldn't get the thing started, so he might as well not even try to lie about his level of expertise.

The second man, a bald guy who was about one head taller than Magnum and in no way needed a gun to look threatening or imposing, stepped forward. _ "What _was that?" he growled into Magnum's face. Thomas almost choked. This guy had clearly not taken the time to brush his teeth this morning.

Magnum cleared his throat. "I, uh, no, like, I can't. Can't help you, man. Sorry. I don't know how to fly a chopper. I don't even work here."

"But you're wearing the shirt," the gunman pointed out. He sounded a little confused as he raised an eyebrow pointedly at the Island Hoppers logo printed on Magnum's yellow button-down.

Magnum glanced down at the banana-shirt and silently cursed T.C. for making him wear it. "Would you believe me if I told you I owed a friend a favor? Trust me, man, I would _ not _be wearing this insult to the color wheel if I had any choice in the matter. I mean, am I wrong, or is this totally not my shade of yellow?"

Shorty shrugged. "Yeah, you're right about that."

"Right?" Magnum nodded. He hadn't exactly _ meant _to strike up a camaraderie with the guy pointing a pistol at his face, but, hey, whatever worked. He just had to stall long enough to actually figure out a plan to get the gun and stop these guys.

"Enough!" Baldy barked. He shot his friend a glare and then turned his angry gaze on Magnum. "If you can't fly this thing, then you're gonna call whoever can. Unless you wanna end your morning bleeding out on the ground," he added threateningly.

Right. So maybe stalling wasn't actually going to work.

"Hey, Thomas! How's the helicopter coming? I gotta fly that tour around the island soon, and I still need to do my pre-flight!"

All three heads whipped around at the unexpected voice, and the second guy pulled out his own gun that he pointed directly at T.C. Magnum sighed; well, there went any hope of rushing the gunman while he was distracted by the new arrival.

T.C. pulled up short a few steps from the office. His eyes widened as he took in the scene in front of him. "Whoa, hey, easy!" he exclaimed as the weapon swung in his direction. "What—"

"You're the pilot?" Shorty demanded.

While both of the gunmen had their attention focused on T.C., Magnum slowly reached into his back pocket for his phone. Good thing he had Katsumoto on speed dial. Holding his breath, he quickly tapped the screen to call the detective and then shifted to slide the phone onto the floor of the helicopter. Hopefully, Katsumoto would be able to hear what was going on and show up with backup to arrest the two gunmen—and soon. In the meantime, he and T.C. would just have to keep stalling.

T.C. looked over at Magnum and raised an eyebrow. In response, Magnum just shrugged a shoulder. Before he could say anything, the second gunman growled in frustration.

"We don't have time for games. You're gonna get this chopper started and fly us off this island _ now." _His gun swung to point at Magnum. "Or this guy dies."

Magnum lifted his hands reflexively. "Woah, let's not get too excited," he said. This was escalating quickly.

One glance at T.C.'s expression told him his friend was thinking the same thing. He nodded slowly. "All right, all right. I'll do it." He moved cautiously toward the helicopter, keeping his hands raised. "It's gonna take me a few minutes to get it started up and all, though."

"Just make it quick!" Baldy snapped.

"You know, rushing your pilot is never a good idea," Magnum spoke up. "Do you really want the guy you're trusting with your lives to cut corners on his pre-flight checklist?"

"Shut up!" Shorty glanced from Magnum to his friend, uncertainty creeping across his features. "What are we supposed to do with him?"

"Well, we ain't taking him with us. Last thing I need is a hostage slowing me down. And we're not leaving any witnesses behind."

The other man looked horrified. "You want to _ shoot _him?"

Magnum glanced back to the bigger of the two criminals, gauging the seriousness on the man's face. This was not going well at all.

Meanwhile, T.C. had stopped in his tracks and stepped back down from the cockpit. "You hurt him, and I'm not flying you anywhere," he growled, shooting a glare at the bigger—and angrier—gunman.

"Come on, man." As if echoing T.C.'s objection, Shorty turned back to his buddy. "Let's just tie him up and leave him behind. By the time anyone shows up and finds him, we'll be long gone anyway."

Magnum wasn't a fan of the idea of T.C. taking off with these two idiots in his helicopter, but he didn't get a chance to speak up before Baldy huffed.

"I don't have time for this. Whatever. Tie him up." He pointed at Magnum. "And you" —he turned back toward T.C.— "have five minutes to get us up in the air! Move it." 

T.C. glowered but returned to his task as the shorter gunman moved off in search of something to use to tie up their prisoner. Magnum looked across at the man who'd stayed behind to watch him and T.C. There was just too much ground to cover for him to hope to rush Baldy before the guy could get a shot off. It seemed like they might just have to wait for the cavalry to arrive. He really hoped Katsumoto hadn't declined his call.

Seconds later, Shorty returned with a zip tie and waved it at Magnum. "Turn around; put your hands behind your back."

Mind racing, Magnum did as he'd been told, wincing as the restraint tightened around his wrists. There had to be a way out of this situation… but he just couldn't think of it.

Shorty grabbed Magnum's arm and pushed him toward the office building. "Move," he ordered.

"Make it quick," Baldy snapped at the other man. "We gotta go."

If he was going to make a move, it had to be now, Magnum decided. He wasn't sure if these guys actually intended to leave him alive or not, but he had no doubt about what they would do to T.C. whenever they were safely at their destination. But time was running out, so it was now or never.

When he glanced back at the chopper, he saw Baldy standing close to it, and Magnum caught T.C.'s eye. From the look on his friend's face, Magnum knew he was thinking the same thing. The two of them exchanged a glance, and Magnum took a deep breath. It was time.

In the blink of an eye, Magnum whirled around and slammed his head into Shorty's face. The bone-jarring _ crack _of two foreheads meeting reverberated through Magnum's skull. Stars exploded across his vision, and he suddenly realized that might not have been his best move. But there was no time to think about that now, even as his knees felt like they might buckle under him at any moment.

The sound of scuffling from near the helicopter reached his ears as Magnum forced himself to his feet. It didn't matter how dizzy he might have just made himself; he had to make sure Shorty stayed down and didn't pull his gun again.

Thankfully, when he glanced down in the direction the other man had fallen, Shorty appeared to be nearly as incapacitated as Magnum felt. Which was good, because he really didn't know if he was up to going several rounds with anyone at the moment.

Despite the fact that his head was throbbing like nobody's business, the sudden shout of "Police, don't move!" was music to Magnum's ears. He almost cheered as Katsumoto appeared, rushing across to where T.C. and Baldy were now tussling.

The gun had already been knocked from the criminal's hand, and the arrival of an armed police detective was enough to convince Baldy to follow orders and peacefully surrender.

T.C. raised an eyebrow in Magnum's direction. "You all good?" he asked, seemingly concerned at how his friend was swaying on his feet. He hurried over, pulling out his pocketknife to slice through Magnum's bonds.

"Yeah… yeah…" Magnum nodded slowly, swallowing. He glanced down at where Shorty was groaning on the ground. "Good thing Katsumoto took my call," he quipped.

"Magnum, that was stupid," came the detective's frustrated voice from where he was finishing cuffing Baldy. "You do know you're supposed to dial 911 when there's an emergency, right? You're just lucky I was in the neighborhood."

"But I always call my friends when I'm in trouble," Magnum chuckled.

T.C. rolled his eyes.

Katsumoto sighed. "We're not friends, Magnum."

Turning back to T.C., Magnum tried to look as pitiful as possible as he groaned and rubbed his head. "T.C., man, your favors are _ dangerous." _

T.C. made a face. "You do realize, nine times out of ten, most of the favors I do for you involve guns and dangerous life-or-death situations, right?"

Magnum really needed to sit down. His head was still pounding, and he really didn't want to pass out. "At least I don't make you wear stupid shirts," he grumbled.

Next to him, T.C. chuckled. "You know, you're right. You do kinda look like a banana."


End file.
